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7 




REMARKS 

ON AN AGREEMENT AMONG CERTAIN MEMBERS OF 
THE GENERAL ^URT IN 1786, RELATING TO THE 
IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN GOODS, AND ALSO 
ON FOUR VIEWS IN BOSTON MADE DURING THE 
REVOLUTION. 



At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, held in Boston, on Thursday, February 8, 
1894, Dr. Samuel A. Geeen spoke as follows : — 

Among the recently discovered Bowdoin Papers, mentioned 
by Mr. Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., at a meeting of this Society 
more than a year ago, is the following Agreement signed by 
members of the General Court. It is in the handwriting of 
the Honorable James Bowdoin, Jr., whose father was then 
Governor of the Commonwealth, and who himself was after- 
ward Minister to Spain. The Agreement was drawn up dur- 
ing the session of 1786, as in that year all the signers were 
members of the Legislature; and Artemas Ward, whose name 
heads the list, was then Speaker of the House. On Novem- 
ber 17, 1786, a Report of a Joint Special Committee was 
adopted, which deals in part with subjects contained in this 
paper. See also " The Massachusetts Centinel " (Boston), No- 
vember 29, 1786, for other facts. The document is of special 
interest at the present time, when some of the topics embodied 
in it are attracting so much attention throughout the country. 

VVhereas the ICxcessive use of Articles of foreign growth and manu- 
facture, has been attended with the most pernicious consequences ; — by 
depriving us of our circulating Msedium, and by diffusing a Taste for 



foreign Frippery, Dress cV; Extnivagance. And Whereas it is of the 
utmost Importance, to encourage Industry', Frugality and our own 
Maimfacturcs ; — to recover a circulating Mredium, to restore public 
Credit, and to facilitate the Payment of public and private Debts ; aud 
thereby to promote the Welfare & Happiness of our Country : With 
a View to these, and other salutary Purposes : We, the Subscribers, 
do hereby enter into a solemn Agreement and Association, to refrain 
from, & as far as in our power to prevent, the excessive use aud Con- 
sumption of Articles of foreign Manufacture, especially Articles of 
Luxury & Extravagance. And We do hereby engage to use our 
utmost Influence to promote Associations for the abovementioned Pur- 
poses in the several Towns we represent. 



Artemas ^^'ard 
Caleb Davis 
Aaron Whitney 
W- Shepaid 
Sam* 'I'hompson 
David Sniead 
Walter M'' Fa Hand 
Sam' Fisk 
Joshua Holt 
Save! Metcalf 
Asahel Wheeler 
Robert H.uniltou 
Jon" Hale 
Eben' W;ishburn 
Samuel I\Ioody 
Jonathan Ward 
Edward Barns 
Beuj" Bates 
Timothy Sibley 
Isaac Tobey 
Seth Smith Jur 
Benjamin Sheldon 
Azariah Ashley 
John Choate 
Atherton Hall 
Ebenezer Tj'ler 
Joseph Farnham 
W'-^ W Cobb 
David Nye 
Sam A Otis 



Jas Bowdoin jr 
John Carnes. 
Hez. Ward 
Isaac Thomson 
Benj. Shepanl 
Nath! Marsh 
James Endicott 
Ezra Sargeant 
Benjamin Read 
Joseph He wins 
John Coffin Jones 
Joshua Thomas 
Ebeny Thayer jun' 
John Treadweli 
Tho^ Dawes 
Nicholas Baylies 
Benj^ Brown 
Tho. Clarke 
Joseph Curtis 

John Stinton 
Zacheus Beal 

Stephen Maynard 

Israel Vinal Ju."^ 

Leonard Williams 

Jon" Brown 

Saml Ilarnden 

J. Brooks. 

Noah M Littlefield 

John Williams 

Leo : Jarvis 



58 






Dr. Green continued : — 

More than a year ago I was authorized by our Vice-Presi- 
dent, Mr. Charles Francis Adams, to buy a set of rare German 
prints, whenever or wherever I could find one, which repre- 
sent views in the town of Boston during the Revolutionary 
period. Within a few weeks, at a sale in New York, I have 
succeeded in procuring these engravings, which now in Mr. 
Adams's name are given to the Society. They are four in 
number, 12 inches by 15| in size, and are rather interesting, 
— on the lucus a non lucendo principle, — inasmuch as they 
probably represent nothing that ever existed in this city. 
Apparently the original sketches were drawn by an artist 
who received a verbal description of the places from sdme 
person who may have I)een here. The prints were engraved 
by Francois Xavier Habermann, a native of Glatz in Silesia, 
where he was born in 1721, but wlio for many years lived 
in Augsburg, wliere he was a well known engraver and 
publisher, until his death in 1796. The legend underneath 
each one is given both in German and French, and in the left- 
hand upper corner is the inscription, "Collection des Pro- 
spects.'" The set now given to the Society is colored, and 
belongs to a series of Views, made on copper; though a set 
in the possession of the Boston Public Library is not colored. 
Perhaps the pictures appeared originally in a volume and also 
as separate prints. I have seen four similar engravings of 
Views in New York, several of Views in Philadelphia, and 
four of Views in Quebec, all made by the same engraver, and 
also published in Augsburg. Our associate, Mr. William H. 
Whitmore, tells me that he has seen one of the Views of 
Quebec, just alluded to, which was identical with one of the 
Boston pictures, though I have never had an opportunity m}'- 
self to compare the two side by side. 

While there is no date whatever on the copies now given, 
there is a slight clew on some of the others as to the time 
when they were made. The Views in New York represent 
the Destruction of the Royal Statue, which took place on 
July 10, 1776 ; the Triumphal Entry of the Royal Troops, and 
the Disembarkment of the English Troops, both occurring on 
September 15 of that year; and the Fire in New York on the 



night of SeiJteniber lil, 1T7G. These dates show that the New 
York views were made [jiobabl3^ not earlier than 1777, and 
perhaps not uniil 1778. Doubtless all the American views 
were engraved during the same period, and at a time when 
Boston, New York, and Philadelpliia, on account of the Revo- 
lution, were attracting considerable attention in Europe, and 
the excitement from military or political events in Am.erica 
was fresh in the public mind. 

The Views are unnumbered, though in the following de- 
scription I shall speak of them by numbers, at the same time 
giving a free translation of the legends, and referring to the 
streets by their modern names. 

No. I. has the legend, '' View of the Great Street toward the 
Old South Presbyterian Church in Boston." The plate gives 
a view in Washington Street looking north from the Old South 
Meeting-house. A person familiar with the spot can possibly 
make out the head of Water Street and of State Street, with 
the Old State House, though this is somewhat doubtful. The 
picture furnishes a t3'pical German scene, and shows a few 
soldiers in the street marching by the side of a mounted gun. 

No. II. has the legend, "View of King Street toward the 
Gate leading to the Country." Soldiers and citizens are seen 
in the foreground. 

No. III. "■ View of Boston toward the Harbor," — a scene 
purely imaginary, though perhaps an attempt was made to rep- 
resent the North Battery and the North Church, as given in 
the neighborhood. 

No. IV. '' View of the Street and the Town House," — 
perhaps a representation of a part of Washington Street, look- 
ing toward the Old South. Men and women, including two 
Indians, appear in the foreground. 

Tiiese four engravings are so very inaccurate that I am by 
no means sure I have fully identified the various places. 





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